4 April 2025 weekly update

Dear Colleagues

As you head off for a very well earned break just a few matters to update you on.

School Visit

I was delighted to have the opportunity to visit Aspire Primary Special school today , which is part of the Bourne Multi Academy Trust , together with my colleague Alice Gleave, Interim AD for SEND. A huge thank you to Diane Browning,  Chief Executive Chief Executive of Bourne Alliance MAT, Tamzin Wood Deputy CEO and  Neil Dipple Headteacher of Aspire and his team for their time in showing us the school in action and discussing their vision as they work with KCC to plan for the future.

SE Region Peer Challenge 

Yesterday Sarah Hammond, KCC Corporate Director of Children's Services, Kevin Kasavan Director of Countywide Services, Ingrid Crisan Director of Operational Integrated Children’s Services and I met up with the Children Services leadership teams from Hampshire and Oxfordshire for our annual peer challenge event. The format is a presentation based on the LA's self evaluation, followed by a grilling and suggestions for improvement from the audience. I am sure most, if not all of you, participate in similar exercises so you will know it is a great format for getting an honest external perspective which helps to identify any blind spots and weaknesses, as well as sharing effective practice and networking. We have come away with some ideas for improvement we will be exploring further.

Special school review 

As I have been reporting in this bulletin and elsewhere, KCC officers continue to work with and invest in our special schools. So this term alone, in addition to visits by individual officers to schools (I have visited three myself), Alice Gleave the new lead officer for the Special School Review has met twice with the KSENT co-chairs, hosted a termly meeting for all special school headteachers and supported the four Local Area provision meetings where special and mainstream schools had the opportunity to work together on pupil place planning related issues. Special school teams have attended HT briefing meetings, where two special schools were scheduled to present case studies.  A working group of special school representatives is being facilitated by Dr Alison Ekins of VIAT to develop the final section of the SEND continuum of needs and provision which will be published next month and the SEMH school headteachers are being facilitated to work together by ADE South David Adams. I and members of my team meet regularly with the KALE Executive (which includes KSENT) to brief them on developments within the LA.

With regard to capital investment and growth, in addition to the 83 capital projects completed in Kent mainstream schools to make them more accessible at a cost of £3,152,274. between 2021 and 2024, £60 million has been spent on 48 different SEN building projects. Some of the bigger expansions include:

• 2 new satellites of Snowfield special school in Cranbrook and on Sheppey and a new satellite of Meadowfield special school at Fulston Manor
• Additional places at Five Acre Wood, Stone Bay, Nexus and The Beacon special schools and Whitfield Aspen primary school
• KCC has also supported a new Cullum Centre at Canterbury Academy and made contributions to the two new special schools in Swanley and Whitstable.

I am updating you on this work because a story has been resurrected in the local press (which is sure to be picked up by national media so look out for it elsewhere) that is sadly not accurate, so I thought you might appreciate seeing our reactive media statement below, just in case it is not used in full. We are really grateful to the special school headteachers and their teams for their continued high levels of engagement, participation and hard work (outlined above) and I am sure it must be just as frustrating for them to keep seeing a narrative which implies the opposite.

This is our response in full -

A Kent County Council (KCC) spokesperson said: “The council remains committed to ensuring there are the right school places to meet pupil need and that, as far as possible, children and young people can attend school in their local community.

“Our officers continue to work with special schools such as Broomhill Bank and Parkwood Hall who are planning to expand their offer to children and young people with more complex needs. As was made clear in recent council meetings, KCC will make a decision on how to proceed in relation to the special school review once further work has been completed and additional information has been gathered that is considered necessary to inform that decision.

"The Safety Valve plans agreed with the Department for Education (DfE) are intended to increase opportunities for children and families as well as reduce financial pressures in the SEND system.”

“Changes already made to SEN provision in Kent have improved performance, with completion of Education, Health and Care Plans in timescale now well above the national average. Changes to school placements have contributed to saving Kent residents £9 million in home to school transport during 2024-25. The council continues to contribute to develop national policy through, for example, rolling out the DfE’s PINS (Project for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools) project in Maidstone schools and planning is underway to implement the recommendations of the Government's Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group.”

If you are interested in why we are now using the term Neurodivergence, more information on the Task and Finish group can be found here. The group will publish a report with recommendations in June 2025.

And finally...

Is it just me who is concerned about the reaction to the Netflix drama Adolescence and the lobby that it should be used in schools? As a mother, grandmother and aunt of young men I am pretty horrified at the frequent vilification of boys and I found this article a thoughtful and helpful addition to the debate Adolescence in schools: TV show’s portrayal of one boyhood may do more harm than good when used as a teaching tool . I know there is some great work going on in Kent schools to help boys and young men navigate their way to adulthood with a sense of purpose and achievement, so well done and keep it up.

Best wishes

Christine McInnes
Director of Education and SEN